


Beyond the Shore

by fuchsiarain



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Humanstuck, I have a lot in mind for this fic, I hope I don't get too ooc for the characters in this, M/M, mermaid au, more characters and ships to come probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-02-24 01:20:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2562938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuchsiarain/pseuds/fuchsiarain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When she was 10 years old, a young Nepeta met a mermaid on her last day of vacation. Five years have passed since then and her family is returning to the California coast. She's expecting to see the mermaid once again. But there may be more to this mermaid than she expected...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic on here so I hope it turned out alright. Reviews and kudos are very much appreciated~

As the sun began to slowly sink at the edge of the pacific, there still remained a young girl by the beach. She stared out to the sea and sighed. Today was the last day of her family's vacation on the coast of California. Her older sister arrived and poked her shoulder. She turned around and saw her sister leaning over.

Her sister began to sign to her, "What's wrong?" She gestured.

"I'm just sad we're leaving tomorrow morning." She replied.

Her sister thought for a moment about what she said. "Maybe a round of volleyball could cheer you up?" She signed.

A wide grin spread across the younger sister's face and she nodded quickly. Without hesitation, she ran over past the volleyball net and over to the cove. Last she checked the ball was left over there when a group of college students spiked it there and called quits right after. She arrived at the cove and scanned the area for it. The ball was located between a few rocks dangerously close to the water. She had to be extra cautious in retrieving it from its spot. Slowly and carefully, she headed towards the ball. She had her arms ready to grab it and inched her way closer and closer to the ball.

Quickly, she reached down and grabbed it only to find the ball was slippery from sea water. The ball slipped out of her grasp and flew straight into the water past the rocks. The rocks were scattered all over the area, making it very difficult for her to get it back. Despite her excellent climbing skills, she knew she was too short to be able to reach it from where it landed.  She sighed and sat down on the silky sand and watched the ball drift further away from the coast. 

As if her day couldn't get any worse. Now she had to go back empty handed to her sister. So much for any fun before having to leave first thing in the morning. She continued to stare at the ball floating in the water until within a few seconds, the ball unexpectedly was tugged down into the water. She got up quickly and went up as close as she could to the water to see what it was. There was no sign of the ball anymore, meaning whatever took it must've dove down deep enough to hide from her.

She leaned over and looked over the rocks to the water, "Hello? What did you do with the ball?" she asked, as if she expected the marine animal that took it to respond. 

The ball quickly popped up to the top of the water once again and she nearly jumped when it happened. Then, hands popped out to the sides of the ball and grabbed onto it. What was another person doing over here at sundown? Bubbles began to form on the top of the water and a blob of dark brown hair appeared up out of the water. It was very long and covered whoever's face it was. Before she could reach out to push it out of the stranger's face, she flipped it back herself.

The stranger appeared to be the same age as her. She had tan skin and very noticeable bright, big, fuchsia colored eyes. Her pink lips formed a big smile to her and she handed the ball to her. "Sorry if I surprised you! This must be yours, right?" the strange girl surmised. 

She nodded and took the ball out from her hands. "Thank you...um, what's your name?" She questioned.

"Oh, of course! I'm Feferi! A mermaid!" the girl exclaimed.

Her eyes widened with surprise; an actual mermaid? This seemed ridiculous. She tilted her head, "Really? I want proof." She demanded.

The mermaid girl nodded and lifted a tail out of the water to show her. The tail was the same color as her eyes. "This enough proof for you?" She chirped.

Her look of disbelief changed to one of excitement. A real mermaid! This was a fairy tale come true for her. The happiness on the mermaid faded slightly as she turned around to listen to something. She couldn't make out what it was she was listening to but stayed to wait and hear from her new friend. The mermaid turned back to her and sighed, "It was my sis. She said I'm gonna be dead unless I get back before it gets dark out."

She frowned, disappointed at the news. "But I'm leaving tomorrow morning! If you leave now, how can I see you again?" She questioned.

"I know we'll see each other again someday! It can't be too hard for you to find someone who looks like me." The mermaid giggled.

"Good point." She admitted.

"I hope to see you soon, dear! I'll find you one way or another!" The mermaid smiled and waved goodbye to her.

She plunged deep into the water once more and the girl waved back to her. She smiled and turned back around to head back to the beach. With the volleyball back she and her sister could play one last game before the end of their vacation. 

 


	2. Five Years Later

Nepeta stared out the window of her family's silver mini van as it drove down a busy highway of southern California. Out of everyone in her family, she was the most excited for this trip. Her short, dark brown hair was tied into a small ponytail and her dark olive skin's freckles had began to pop out over her face and shoulders. She was wearing an indigo colored tank top with matching sneakers and black jean shorts.

Her mother was sitting up next to her stepfather who was driving. Next to Nepeta sat her older sister, Meulin, who, on the other hand, had her long dark hair loose and messy as usual. Behind them in the back row of the van were Nepeta's stepbrothers; Karkat and Kankri. When her mother got married three years ago, along with her loving stepfather came his annoying sons.

Karkat wasn't too bad except when he was legitimately pissed off. However, Kankri could talk for hours about nonsense once you get him on a topic he considered "offensive". Both of their appearances were unusual to a normal person. Karkat was born an albino but has since dyed his hair black. Kankri on the other hand, had a overbite that wasn't very noticeable when his mouth was open. Nepeta liked to think he talked a lot to hide it from others.

"How much longer 'til we get there?!" Karkat questioned in his usual loud voice.

"In a few minutes, dear. Just be patient." His stepmother assured him.

Karkat grumbled and leaned back in his car seat. Kankri was too busy reading one of his speech books to add anything to the conversation as he usually did. "Calm down, Karkles; if anyone's excited for this vacation, it's me." Nepeta teased him with one of her many nicknames.

"Really? You don't seem like a swimmer!" Karkat retorted.

"You know people go to the beach for more then just swimming." She replied. Nepeta knew what it was she was going to do once she got to the beach. But she kept it to herself, there's no way anyone (especially Karkat) would believe there was a mermaid there waiting for her.

A sudden meow came from the seat between the two sisters and Karkat groaned, "Why did we bring Pounce De Leon again?!" The white cat meowed again and looked around her carrier.

"Because we didn't have anyone to babysit her. I asked Equius but he said he was going to be busy with something he couldn't tell me." Nepeta answered.

"First of all, did you really just say _baby_ sit? Second, please don't tell me anything about your fucking weird and somehow ripped friend."

"Hey, I'm the only one who can make fun of him." Nepeta grinned and stuck her tongue out at Karkat.

"Children don't start arguing again please, the house is just up the street here." Nepeta's mother said to them and turned back to the front to look up ahead at the vacation home.

Nepeta gasped with excitement and nudged Meulin who managed to fall asleep while the rest of the family wasn't paying attention. Her older sister woke up quickly and turned to her sister. "We're here, we're here!" Nepeta signed. Meulin gave her younger sister a huge smile and the two of them bounced up and down in place.

The mini van came to a stop and was parked right in front of the large light blue house. Nepeta was the first to hop out and took Pounce De Leon with her. The rest of her family got out a bit slower than her and their parents began to unload the luggage they brought with them. Nepeta took her olive suitcase and rolled it behind her as she headed up the stairs to the front door of the house. Even after five years she remembered where the keys the owners of this house were kept. She kneeled down and lifted the welcome mat to retrieve the gold colored keys. "Looks like you're one step ahead of us, dear." Her mother laughed as she and the others reached the house.

Nepeta smiled back to her mom and turned to the door again to unlock it. One turn of the key and the door was easily pushed open by her. She entered the house and had a look around.

Not much had changed since the last time they were here. Same furniture, wall colors, and circle shaped windows to look out at the Pacific. Nepeta turned around, "Soooo, when can we go swimming?" She got straight to the point .

Her stepfather laughed, "We just got here! I'm afraid the sun's gonna start going down in an hour or so anyway." He informed her. Nepeta sighed, she supposed it was a bit unrealistic to be able to start her search for Feferi so soon. Although she still felt a bit disappointed about it. "In the meantime, we could order a pizza for dinner. Does anchovy sound good to you?" Her mother asked.

"Duh! Anchovy is always good for me." Nepeta grinned.

At least she had something to occupy her time until the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Using Karkles as one of Nepeta's nicknames for Karkat is a shout out to a few of my friends. :p I hope I wrote everyone accurately here... Also prepare for even more character introductions next chapter.


	3. Sending a Sign

The night they arrived was rather peaceful for the vacationing family. The two sisters stayed in one room while the brothers stayed in another. Nepeta and Meulin shared a bunk bed; the same one they had when they last came here. Nepeta rolled to the edge of her bed and looked down at her sister who was luckily still awake. Nepeta and Meulin shared a strong bond as sisters ever since Nepeta was born. They were always open and willing to tell each other things they would never tell anyone else. Maybe her sister would believe that she knew a mermaid? "Hey Meulin..." She grabbed her sister's attention and continued, "Would you mind if I told you something? By that I mean why I've been so excited for this trip?" She finished her signing.

"Of course! I was a bit curious about it, actually. I know it's fun here but you were acting more excited then you usually get!" Meulin replied.

Nepeta thought for a moment about her approach of explaining Feferi to her. She made up her mind and began signing again, "Well, you see I met this girl the last time we came here...and I really wanted to see her again."

"Oh, I see! I can't wait to meet her, too!" Meulin grew a big smile to her.

"I hope you can see her too, it's just that...well, she's a bit...odd in appearance." That was the only way she felt she could explain how she was part fish.

"Oh, that's ok! I won't judge them!" Meulin signed happily. Nepeta smiled with relief, "I figured you wouldn't."

* * *

 

The next day was finally the day the family would head to the beach for the first time. After they all finished up lunch at one of the nearby boardwalk's restaurants, they headed back down to the beach. Nepeta had already taken off her coverup and was ready to swim, clad in an olive colored tankini. She reached the shoreline before turning around to get her siblings to hurry up and jump in with her. Karkat cringed at her, "No, thank you! I can't swim, remember?!" He shouted.

"Your loss karkitty." Nepeta teased her younger step brother.

Karkat rolled his eyes and followed Kankri to sit down under the umbrellas they brought. Unlike Nepeta and her family, Karkat and Kankri were extremely vulnerable to sunburn and were practically vampires because of it. It was something she always teased them about, "You put on sunscreen, right?" was one of the many phrases she said whenever Karkat did something, such as going to the fridge. 

Meulin was on her way down to her sister when she suddenly stopped to sign something to her. Nepeta didn't completely make out what it was, but before she could ask her, a voice shouted at her. "Look out!" It yelled.

Nepeta turned to the side and found there was a volleyball headed straight for her face and swiftly jumped up to grab it. She landed perfectly onto the ground and looked to see whose ball it was.

"Over here! Sorry!" The same voice shouted.

Nepeta identified where it was coming from; a girl about the same age as her it looked like. She was wearing round glasses and a lime green floral one piece swimsuit with a frilly skirt. Her skin was dark much like Nepeta's and she had messy, jet black hair that went past her shoulders. The girl approached her and gently took the volleyball from Nepeta's hands. "Thanks! Sorry - me and my brother got a little out of hand with our game." The girl's light green eyes were lit up as bright as her gentle smile. 

Nepeta smiled back to her, "No problem. I'm a fan of sports myself." She admitted. 

"Ooh nice! Maybe you and your sister would like to play a round against me and my brother then?" The girl asked her.

"You're on. By the way, name's Nepeta." She mentioned.

"I'm Jade." The girl smiled and slightly revealed her buck teeth to her.

Jade motioned the sisters to follow her, "Come on! The net's over here!" She told them.

Once the whole group was gathered, Nepeta was introduced to Jade's brother, John. It was fairly obvious the two were siblings as they both had the same bright faces and wore glasses. However, John's skin color was a bit lighter than his sister's. The game was set and Jade was the first to serve. She tossed the ball up in the air and spiked it over to the two sisters' side. Nepeta was the first to react and swiftly bunted it to the other side. Jade reacted to the ball nearly as fast as Nepeta had. She was surely going to be competition for her. 

After a few more rounds, Nepeta remembered about seeing Feferi again. She nearly slapped her forehead for forgetting to search for her, something so important slipping her mind like that! The volleyball was in her hands as she was the next one to serve, it was then she came up with an idea. 

Nepeta lifted the volleyball up to serve and spiked it with all her strength to the far end of the beach. Her sister and the two siblings nearly jumped as it happened. She waited for the ball to roll far enough and ran to the other side. "I'll go get it!" She told the others.

Nepeta ran after the ball and hoped it would reach the same cove as before. She grabbed the ball off of the ground and went over to the rocks where they met. She looked down at the water to see if she was already there. Nope. No signs of any aquatic life anywhere, it seemed. Looks like she had to send the sign to her after all. Nepeta looked out to the ocean and gently tossed the ball into it's waters. Now all she had to do was wait. 

"Nepeta?" She could faintly hear Jade's voice call.

Nepeta turned around and saw Jade approaching her from behind. "Oh there you are! You get the ball?" She asked.

Nepeta hesitated for a moment, "Oh, um, about the ball..." she began.

Jade looked past her and saw the volleyball drifting out further and further in the water. She sighed, "Oh well. I think we have an extra one back at the beach. Come on, let's get going and start up the game again!" 

Nepeta nodded and hopped down onto the soft sand. She followed behind Jade and sighed quietly, "So much for that plan..." She murmured. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't finish this sooner! The next few chapters should hopefully be up much quicker.


	4. Nighttime Meetup

That night was spent by the family back at their house. They spent the time before bed watching movies and eating leftovers from the night before. Nepeta wasn't very hungry and only had a single slice of anchovy pizza. They were in the middle of watching _Jaws_ when she got up from one of the couches and walked out of the living room. Her mother looked up, "Where are you going dear?" She asked her daughter.

Nepeta looked back to her, "I think I'm gonna go to bed a little early. Goodnight everyone." She said with a slight smile.

She hopped up the clear spiral staircase and headed back to her and her sister's room at the end of the hall on the right. Once she entered the room she headed straight towards the windowsill. The window was directed right to the Pacific where it could be seen stretching out for miles ahead. The sun had already set and the stars were slowly one by one appearing in the dark blue sky. Their small bright lights were scattered all around the moon which was nearly full tonight. Nepeta looked out the window to the sky and let out a soft sigh, how long was it going to take to find Feferi? She was really hoping she would be out looking for her earlier too. Maybe she was out at the wrong time of day? Guess she'd have to find out tomorrow using a different strategy.

Only moments after Nepeta was beginning to get lost in her thoughts, she heard a faint noise.  It sounded like it was outside in the water. The sounds became more clear as they grew louder and louder. It was the splashing of water, and it was right below her. Nepeta looked down and found the source of the noise. A fish tail was moving back and fourth and creating the splashes by the shore. However this fish seemed rather odd looking in size, it looked as if it was a shark. A few seconds passed before she instantly recognized what was going on down there. Feferi! She must've seen her volleyball! Without a second thought, Nepeta hopped off the windowsill and rushed straight down the stairs and past her family who were still busy watching the movie. Her mother began to ask her something but it was too late as Nepeta closed the slide door and made a run for it down to the beach.

She reached the shoreline and turned her head left and right looking for the exact spot she found the mermaid. Another loud splash was made and Nepeta heard it from the right this time. She grinned and followed it until she was just a few feet away from her friend. Before the mermaid popped out of the water, the volleyball came up to the top first. Feferi gripped her hands on it and pulled herself up from the shallow water. "I'm guessing this was you who threw this?" She asked her with a wide, familiar smile on her face.

"Feferi!" Nepeta exclaimed. She hugged her friend who immediately returned it.

The two girls ended the hug and Feferi continued to smile at her friend, "I can't believe it's really you! It feels like it's been forever since we met!" She chirped.

"I know! I've been looking forward to this trip ever since our last one! Now we can finally hang out with each other!" Nepeta grinned.

"Oh, it won't be just me you'll be hanging with." Feferi hinted.

"Really now? Who else is gonna join us?" Nepeta questioned the mermaid.

"I've got plenty of other friends for you to meet! I think you'll really like Roxy especially!" Feferi moved her ear fins back and fourth, displaying her excitement.

"Cooool, I've been wondering what your society and people are like down there."

"You won't be disappointed!" Feferi smiled.

"I doubt I could be. I mean, aren't mermaids being real like every girl's dream?" She remarked.

Feferi looked up to the sky and observed the stars as more and more of them had appeared since they had both looked. The day was becoming darker and darker it seemed. Feferi knew what sort of creatures showed up around this time of day. The ones she and everyone else she knew hunted. She sighed, "If only I found you sooner. I'm already pretty late for hunting and if I don't make it back in a few, my mom's gonna cull me!"

"Hunting? That sounds awesome." Nepeta imagined her to be like Chief Brody of  _Jaws_ going after sharks and doing whatever it takes to kill them.

The two hugged each other again and Feferi let go, "I promise I'll be here tomorrow afternoon. Especially since I know where you're staying." She smiled and waved goodbye to her human friend.

Nepeta waved back and waited until she swam far enough away before moving back to the house. She took more of her time returning and was greeted by her mother at the sliding door. "Oh, thank heavens you're back! Where were you dear?" Her mom asked.

"Oh I just went to meet up with a friend." She smiled.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh another chapter up later then I wanted it to be. Next chapter shall be in the works soon~


	5. Someone Unexpected

The very next morning began as it usually did for Nepeta. She woke up with Pounce De Leon on her stomach looking her right in the face. Her yellow eyes were lit up brightly and her face twitched a bit looking at her owner. Nepeta smiled to the white cat and lifted her off of her stomach to the foot of the bed. She climbed down and hopped off the ladder and walked over to her older sister, who was still asleep. Nepeta shook Meulin a bit until she saw her eyes open and looking right up at her. "Good morning, Meulin!" She signed to her.

Meulin smiled, "Good morning! I'm guessing it was Pounce that got you up?" The older sister signed as she looked up to the cat, who was still on Nepeta's bed.

Nepeta giggled, "Well she certainly helped that's for sure." 

Moments later, the two sisters headed out of their room and down the stairs for breakfast. Nepeta was definitely the one who was looking forward to it the most. She felt like her lack of food from the night before had left her low on energy. And energy was something she knew she would need today. Their mother had already put the frozen waffles into the toaster once they made it down to the bar chairs near the kitchen. 

Their mother turned around and smiled to her daughters, "Glad to see you two were the first up! I'm assuming Karkat and Kankri are still asleep?" She directed to Nepeta.

Nepeta nodded, "We didn't look but knowing them, they probably are." She laughed.

Her mother let out a laugh too and quickly turned back around to the sound of the waffles' pop out of the toaster. She pushed them up and placed them on separate plates for each girl. The two sisters took one of each, "Don't worry there are more waffles where that came from." She signed for both of them to understand. 

The rest of the morning went by fairly smoothly for the family. As predicted, Nepeta's stepbrothers were indeed up later than them. Although it was Karkat who seemed to be the one who was cranky about it. Typical behavior for the young step sibling. After a while once everyone felt full and ready enough to head on out, the whole family once again gathered up their beach supplies and headed straight back out to the Californian coast. This time however, Nepeta decided instead of eating with he others at the boardwalk, she wanted to have a packed lunch to eat at the beach. Her mom packed a tuna sandwich, her favorite to eat once she was ready. Nepeta of course wanted to save a bit of it for Feferi once they met up again.

Once the group had arrived, Nepeta spent most of the hour there keeping an eye out for any signs of Feferi coming early. Although it was still a bit early, she wanted to be prepared to meet her as soon as she could. She continued to stare out to the water as her sister sat back down next to her. Meulin poked her to grab her attention, "Guess who's back to hang with us again?!" Her sister signed with a bright expression across her face.

Before Nepeta could ask anything, a nearby voice was heard and she turned to where it came from, "Hey guys! I figured you'd be back out here again today!" Their new found friend Jade had starting walking towards the two girls with her brother a few steps behind.

"I suppose you two are ready for round two today then?" Nepeta asked with a playful smirk.

"You're so on! Good thing we have an extra ball to replace the one from yesterday." Jade told her.

"Oh yeah...again I'm really sorry about that yesterday. You see what I was trying to do was give it to one of my other friends..." She sighed looking down at the silky sand.

"Oh it's totally fine, no need to feel bad!" Jade reassured her, "Although I would like to see this friend of yours who wanted it so badly." She smiled.

Nepeta returned the girl's smile and led the way to the volleyball net to start up a new game. She figured it'd be a good pastime for the group as she waited for Feferi to show up. It'd be even better if everyone got the chance to see her as well.

The game began as it did the day before as both teams ending up doing pretty well against each other. Once again Nepeta and Meulin were both on the same team together while they competed against the other two siblings who clearly knew a thing or two about how to play. However, it seemed as if Jade was the one doing the most work, which made sense considering she looked a bit more athletic than her brother. Not only that, but she was noticeably taller than him as well. The closer she looked at the differences between the siblings, the more Nepeta noticed how similar they were physically to Karkat and herself. 

After another few rounds or so of volleyball, Jade called a timeout for everyone to have a little lunch break. Meulin and Nepeta headed back over to where their family had all their supplies set up for the packed lunches. Nepeta checked the time on her phone; 2:00 Feferi was gonna be here fairly soon it looked like. In the meantime, she began eating up the tuna sandwich, making sure she had enough left for Feferi to eat. 

The others weren't done with their breaks as Nepeta finished up eating. She decided in the meantime to head further down shore to write a welcome sign in the sand. She carefully marked in each letter of "Welcome" one by one. As she finished up, unfortunately, a bit of water spashed on the "W" of the word. She turned around to see who did it. Her guess was a little kid busying swimming and playing around in the water. But once she scanned the nearby water, there didn't appear to be anyone in close by. 

Nepeta raised an eyebrow and kept staring out to see if someone would pop out of hiding in the water. A few seconds passed and still the water remained empty. Before she could call out, another splash went straight to her face from a few feet away. "Feferi?" She questioned to herself.

Jade and Meulin appeared behind her and looked out to where she was. Jade turned back to her, "What's wrong? Is your friend here yet or something?" She asked Nepeta.

"It must be. Hey Feferi!" She exclaimed. 

A strange, long fishtail came headed straight towards the group of girls and immediately stopped a few feet away from them. Close enough to shore but enough for them to be able to keep their body in the water completely. Nepeta looked down at them with anticipation seen clearly across her face. "Feferi! It is you!" 

The slim body in the water popped up moments after she spoke to it. However, it wasn't the dark hair and skin Nepeta was expecting to see. Instead, the person appeared to have tan white skin and short blonde hair. The person looked up to the girls, his blood red eyes were bright lit. He raised an eyebrow at them. "Who?"

The three girls looked at him with their jaws wide open with shock and surprise. It was a mermaid alright, but not the one Nepeta wanted to see. "Uh w-who are you?" She asked him.

"Me? Name's Dave. And as you can probably tell I'm a merbro." He answered her in a slight monotone voice.

"Merbro?" Jade giggled.

"Yeah, it's technically not what you land-maids are suppose to call me." He responded.

Dave looked to the left and raised his eyebrow again, "Looks like my sis has found another one of you landies." He pointed out. 

Nepeta and the other two looked to where he was and found John at the dock with a girl in the water. It looked as if the two were talking among each other, but the events changed quickly as the girl pulled on Jade's brother's leg and landed him straight into the water below. Jade gasped, "John!" She screamed.

Only a moment later, Jade had made a run for it to the docks to chase after her brother. Nepeta knew her friend had a good reason to be worried and followed quickly behind her. "Come on Meulin!" She signed quickly to her sister.

Meulin nodded and ran aside her younger sister in the chase to save Jade's brother. "Good luck then, you guys." Dave called to them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy late thanksgiving all! Excuse my laziness in updating...Since this one's up a bit early in the evening where I am, I'll probably get working again soon.


	6. More Than Her

The group of three teens made their way as fast as they could to the dock. Jade continued to lead the way for the sisters and ran surprisingly fast considering the environment. The emotion of panic she was feeling showed easily on her face as she ran after her brother. Nepeta and Meulin were of course concerned about John too, but not sure why Jade was acting as if he was going to die any second now. Perhaps he couldn't swim?

Jade reached the edge of the dock he was on and dove straight into the water head first. The two sisters behind her waited a few seconds before doing anything. Jade's head reached the surface again and she dove back under for her brother. Nepeta kneeled down to try to get a look at what was going on down in the water below. The two waited with anticipation, hoping that both Jade and John were okay.

Small bubbles began to reach the surface of the water and Jade's head appeared before them once again. Jade looked down and pulled her brother from the water with her. His expression looked both shocked and amazed. She pulled him up onto the dock. "John! What happened?! Are you all right?!" Jade asked, a tone of panic in her loud voice.

John snapped back to reality and looked at his sister. "Yeah I'm fine! It was this girl...she did it!" He exclaimed.

Another head could be seen headed straight up to the surface from where the Lejion sisters were on the dock. Within seconds, the head was revealed to belong to a teenage girl who John claimed was the one who pulled him into the water. She looked to be about Meulin's age and had short blonde, side swept bangs with the back of her hair pointing straight up. Her eyes were a bright shade of pink, similar to the color of Feferi's. She raised an eyebrow at the two siblings. "What's the big deal? I thought you wanted to learn how to swim." She questioned, looking straight to John.

"Well, maybe...but that was waaay too sudden!" He replied.

"Sorry. Guess my first lesson was a bit too quick for ya." The girl grinned.

"Too quick?! You could've drowned him!" Jade snapped.

"What? I said I was sorry! Besides, I would've been able to save him myself just fine with the gills I got on me." She said with a slight smirk.

Jade frowned and raised an eyebrow at the girl, "Who are you anyway? The guy over there said you were his sis."

"Oh, wow! For once he didn't make up some shit to strangers. Heh...I've taught him well." The mermaid regained her train of thought, "Anyhoo, the name's Roxy and it's great to meet all you landies!" She grinned.

Nepeta leaned down further towards Roxy to chime in on the banter between her and the two siblings. "It's great to meet you too, Roxy. Do you by any chance know another mermaid named Feferi?" She asked her.

A wide grin spread across Roxy's face. "Hell ya I know her! We're besties! I didn't know you already knew a mermaid, that's rad!" The pink mermaid exclaimed to her.

Nepeta grinned back at Roxy and looked just as excited as her. "Well since you do, you think you can find her for us? I'm not exactly sure what area of the ocean your people are located." She asked.

"Hmm, well I haven't seen her in a while but I can try. I'll be right back." The mermaid dove back into the water in hopes of being able to find both her and Nepeta's friend.

Nepeta and the rest of her group had to wait a few minutes after that before being able to hear any news about the whereabouts of both Roxy and Feferi. Nepeta was the first to notice Roxy's head as she reached the surface of the water once again to talk to them. "So...any luck?" Nepeta asked.

"Well, I did find her as a matter of fact," Roxy started, "But she told me to go ahead of her. She should be up aaanny second now." She huffed. 

Nepeta sighed with relief, glad to see she hadn't given up on visiting her today. And as Roxy predicted, the fuchsia colored mermaid could be seen from the dock swimming up to the surface. As soon as she poked up her head out of the water, the teenage mermaid sighed. "I'm sorry I was late! I was lucky Roxy went down and got me." She looked around at the group gathered around Nepeta, "I see you have some friends of your own to introduce me to!" 

Jade smiled to Feferi, "It's nice to meet you!" She greeted.

"Nice to meet you, too! I'd like to know more about you guys but...is it alright if I talk to Nepeta alone for a few?" She asked in a more serious tone.  
John looked to his sister and shrugged, "I suppose so." He turned back to Meulin, "Wanna go play volleyball again?" He asked her.

Meulin nodded and she and the siblings went on their way to give the two friends privacy. "Guess that means I should go too, huh?" Roxy asked.

"Yeah...nothing personal. I'll tell you about it later if you like." Feferi offered.

Roxy agreed and dove back into the ocean once more. Feferi looked down to make sure the mermaid was far enough away from her and Nepeta. Once she was, she turned back to her friend. "So Nepeta...are you a little tired of only being able to see me out here in the ocean?" She asked her.

"I suppose it may get a little more inconvenient the more we do it...no offense." She admitted.

"That's what I figured may be a problem for you. You see..." She pulled herself up a bit closer to the dock, "I think I've discovered a way for me to walk on land."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I have finally updated this again! Updates should be more frequent from here on out. In the meantime, I'm working on a new Homestuck fic that should be ready pretty soon, so be on the lookout for that!


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